Mobsters rule

12:01AM BST 10 Aug 2003

The mere thought of a "mob" - that brute mass of people moving in unpredictable directions - has traditionally inspired a frisson of terror. The London mob surged through the streets during the 1381 Peasants' Revolt, and sacked the Archbishop of Canterbury's residence. The Paris mob seized the Bastille and brought down the king, and the Russian mob stormed the Winter Palace and toppled the Tsar.

As we report today, however, the craze for "flash mobbing" - the meaningless assembly of a crowd - has brought an entirely new dimension to the tradional notion of the mob. Last week, the first London flash mob congregated at a sofa store on the Tottenham Court Road, politely admired the leather cushion covers, and trundled home.

The flash mobs are already a regular occurrence in New York and Boston, where benign mobbers meet in department stores and malls. Some people argue that the mob is now an art form, while others view it as a hobby. The London organiser explained that he liked "the whole flocking concept," and an excited Boston mobber enthused: "It's like French Revolution Lite". What next: the Lo-Cal Gordon Riots?